Midnight
Chapter 14
He was so different. Paler, or maybe it was just the contrast of his wild, dark hair. A streak sliced through it like white fire that hadn't been there before. His eyes were murky, guarded, and haunted, darting around her shop with a mixture of apprehension and intense longing. His cheekbones stood out almost as far as hers, the circles under his eyes almost as deep.
Nellie realized with a start that he looked surprisingly like her.
But there was no doubt in her mind as she began to babble mindlessly to him, about pies and bugs and Mrs. Mooney's cats. Benjamin Barker had returned to her.
But no, did she really think he was thinking of her? He didn't even seem to recognize her as she slid a plate across the table towards him. He was undoubtedly thinking only of Lucy, the silly twit, and his Johanna.
She noted with a detached sense of amusement that he spat out the bite of pie.
Nellie finally managed to gain some control over her mouth and guided Benjamin to the parlor and the promise of gin. He sat down heavily and stared into the fire. A pang of sadness shot through Nellie. How had he not yet recognized her?
"You have a room above your shop. If times are so hard, why don't you rent it out?" A leading question if she ever heard one. She decided to take the bait.
"Well you see, sir, something happened up there, near fifteen years ago. Something not- not very nice."
She started into the story of Lucy and Johanna.
"There was a barber and his wife, who lived here years ago. A barber and his wife..." she trailed off, then almost whispered: "And he was beautiful.
"A proper artist with a knife, but he was transported for life... and he was beautiful.
"He had this wife, see. Pretty little thing, but a silly little nit, had her chance for the moon on a string. Poor thing. There were these two, one of them a judge, the other his beadle, who wanted her like mad. Every day they'd come up to the window, nudging, wheedling. She never budged from her needle, poor thing.
"Well, then Beadle calls on her all polite, telling her the judge has repented. Drags her off to his house, but they were having this ball all in masks. There's no one she knows there, poor dear, so she wanders and drinks, calling for Judge Turpin all the while...
"Oh, but he was there all right, only not so contrite!
"She wasn't no match for such craft, you see, and everyone thought it so droll..." Noticing how tight the muscles in Benjamin's face were, Nellie edited her story a bit.
"They figured she had to be daft, you see, so all of them stood there and laughed... poor soul. Poor thing..."
With a movement so fast it sent Nellie startling back to the wall, Benjamin rose from his chair.
"No! Would no one have mercy on her...?"
Closing her eyes, Nellie spoke his name.
"Benjamin Barker..."
He whirled, throwing her against the wall with one hand around her throat.
"No! Not Barker. That man is dead. It's Todd, now, Sweeney Todd!"
The breath slowly seeped out from Nellie's body as she realized that Benjamin Barker would never return. Mr. Todd was right: Benjamin Barker was dead and gone.